Dice-K takes strides with side session

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While the Red Sox were on the bus to Sarasota for a matchup with the Orioles, right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka took another step forward in his rehab, throwing his first full-fledged side session of camp.

Unlike in his past couple of sessions on the mound, Matsuzaka threw all of his pitches -- 65 by the count of pitching coach John Farrell -- with the catcher in a full crouch.

Matsuzaka had a sore back at the start of camp, delaying his program. He is now fully healthy. His only obstacle now is the time he has lost, putting him a couple of weeks behind the other pitchers.

"I'm encouraged from the standpoint that he threw 65 pitches, and used all of his pitches in the bullpen," Farrell told reporters in Fort Myers, Fla. "Right now, it's more a matter of refining the timing in his delivery and establishing a release point on each individual pitch, as opposed from a health standpoint that he's not feeling anything, which he is not. It's encouraging from that standpoint. He's into progressional bullpens and ultimately to batting practice."

Matsuzaka will throw one more side session -- in either two or three days depending on how he feels -- and will then progress to batting practice by either Friday or Saturday.

Farrell said that if Matsuzaka's first batting practice session goes well, he could pitch in a Minor League game rather than throwing a second BP session.

It was under manager Terry Francona's impression that Matsuzaka's first start of the spring would come around March 18, but that is the lone off-day of camp for the Red Sox.

There's also the possibility he could pitch in a Minor League game that day, or make his Grapefruit League debut right around that time, but not specifically that day.

Farrell has said that Matsuzaka will need to pitch about 25 innings in game action before he's ready to pitch in the regular season, making it a distinct possibility -- if not a strong likelihood -- that his season will start a couple of weeks late.

How did Matsuzaka's secondary stuff look?

"Certainly not season form, but the fact he's manipulating the baseball, and putting different spins on the baseball are all an encouraging sign that there's no restrictions from the upper-back issue he was dealing with," Farrell said. "Today, again from a volume standpoint, and being able to use different pitches, it was a positive step."